About Me

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Surrey, B.C., Canada
I have always been an avid reader and history has always been a passion of mine. I am a huge historical fiction fan, who also enjoys reading gothic tales with chills and thrills, mystery and suspense and who loves stepping back in time..... A quote I once read stated: I don't live in the past..the past lives in me!.. Perhaps that's why I am a Family History/Genealogy Addict too!

Sunday 30 August 2015

One of Historical Fiction Fans most Influential Authors of the 20th Century

As we approach what would have been her 106th Birthday and as she was such an influential Author to most of us Historical Fiction fans, I thought I would add some information about the lustrous career of the author who many of us know as JEAN PLAIDY, VICTORIA HOLT and PHILIPPA CARR, just to name a few...

Eleanor Alice Burford was born on 1 September 1906 in Kensington, London, England. She married a leather merchant, George Percival Hibbert, who shared her love of books and reading. Eleanor Burford was one of the preeminent English authors of historical fiction for most of the twentieth century. She used eight pennames during her career and many of her readers under one penname never suspected her other identities. In 1941, she began signing her novels with her maiden name: Eleanor Burford, later she created her first and most prolific pseudonym: Jean Plaidy. In the 1950's she used the pseudonyms: Elbur Ford, Kathleen Kellow and Ellalice Tate. In 1960, she created the pseudonyms: Anna Percival and the popular Victoria Holt. In 1972, she created her last pseudonym Philippa Carr. (Some of her novels were reedited as different pseudonyms). She died on January 18, 1993 at sea, somewhere between Greece and Port Said, Egypt. By the time of her death, she sold 56 millon copies as Victoria Holt, 14 as Jean Plaidy and, 3 as Phillipa Carr.

Author's series
Catherine de Medici Trilogy
The French Revolution Trilogy
The Georgian Saga
Isabella & Ferdinand Trilogy
Lucrezia Borgia Duology
Mary, Queen of Scots Duology
The Norman Trilogy
The Plantagenet Saga
Queen Victoria Quartet
The Queens of England
Spanish Inquisition Trilogy
The Stuart Saga
The Tudors

Single Novels:

Together They Ride (1945)
Beyond the Blue Mountains (1948)
The King's Pleasure (1949) (a.k.a. Murder Most Royal in the Tudor Saga)
The Goldsmith's Wife (1950) (a.k.a. The King's Mistress)
Daughter of Satan (1952)
Lilith (1954)
Melisande (It Began in Vauxhall Gardens) (1955)
The Scarlet Cloak (1957)
The Queen of Diamonds (1958)
Milady Charlotte (1959)
Evergreen Gallant (1965)
Defenders of the Faith (1971)
Madame du Barry (1994)
The King's Adventurer (1996) (Originally This Was a Man by Ellalice Tate)

OMNIBUS
Katharine of Aragon (omnibus of novels 2 – 4 in The Tudor Saga)
Catherine De Medici (1969)
Charles II (omnibus of novels 2 – 4 in The Stuart Saga)
Isabella and Ferdinand (1970)

The Tudor Saga
Uneasy Lies the Head (1982) (a.k.a. To Hold the Crown)
Katharine, the Virgin Widow (1961)
The Shadow of the Pomegranate (1962)
The King's Secret Matter (1962)
Murder Most Royal (1949) (a.k.a. The King's Pleasure)
Saint Thomas' Eve (1954) (a.k.a. The King's Confidante)
The Sixth Wife (1953)
The Thistle and the Rose (1963)
Mary, Queen of France (1964)
The Spanish Bridegroom (1954) (a.k.a. For a Queen's Love)
Gay Lord Robert (1955) (republished as Lord Robert (UK) in 2007 and A Favorite of the Queen (US) in 2010)

The Catherine De Medici Trilogy
Madame Serpent (1951)
The Italian Woman (1952) (a.k.a. The Unholy Woman)
Queen Jezebel (1953)

The Mary Stuart, Queen of Scots Series
Royal Road to Fotheringhay (1955) (first published as by Eleanor Burford)
The Captive Queen of Scots (1963)

The Stuart Saga
The Murder in the Tower (1964)
The Wandering Prince (1956)
A Health Unto His Majesty (1956)
Here Lies Our Sovereign Lord (1957)
The Three Crowns (1965)
The Haunted Sisters (1966)
The Queen's Favourites (1966) (a.k.a. Courting Her Highness)

The French Revolution Series
Louis the Well Beloved (1959)
The Road to Compiegne (1959)
Flaunting, Extravagant Queen (1957)

The Lucrezia Borgia Series
Madonna of the Seven Hills (1958)
Light on Lucrezia (1958)

The Isabella and Ferdinand Trilogy
Castile for Isabella (1960)
Spain for the Sovereigns (1960)
Daughters of Spain (1961) (a.k.a. Royal Sisters)

The Georgian Saga
The Princess of Celle (1967)
Queen in Waiting (1967)
Caroline, the Queen (1968)
The Prince and the Quakeress (1975)
The Third George (1969)
Perdita's Prince (1969)
Sweet Lass of Richmond Hill (1970)
Indiscretions of the Queen (1970)
The Regent's Daughter (1971)
Goddess of the Green Room (1971)
Victoria in the Wings (1972)

The Queen Victoria Series
The Captive of Kensington Palace (1972)
The Queen and Lord M (1973)
The Queen's Husband (1973)
The Widow of Windsor (1974)

The Norman Trilogy
The Bastard King (1974)
The Lion of Justice (1975)
The Passionate Enemies (1976)
The Plantagenet Saga Edit
The Plantagenet Prelude (1976)
The Revolt of the Eaglets (1977)
The Heart of the Lion (1977)
The Prince of Darkness (1978)
The Battle of the Queens (1978)
The Queen from Provence (1979)
Edward Longshanks (1979) (republished as The Hammer of the Scots in 2008)
The Follies of the King (1980)
The Vow on the Heron (1980)
Passage to Pontefract (1981)
The Star of Lancaster (1981)
Epitaph for Three Women (1981)
Red Rose of Anjou (1982)
The Sun in Splendour (1982)

The Queens of England Series
Myself My Enemy (1983) (a.k.a. Loyal in Love)
Queen of This Realm (1984)
Victoria Victorious (1985)
The Lady in the Tower (1986)
The Courts of Love (1987)
In the Shadow of the Crown (1988)
The Queen's Secret (1989)
The Reluctant Queen (1990)
The Pleasures of Love (1991) (a.k.a. The Merry Monarch's Wife)
William's Wife (1992) (a.k.a. The Queen's Devotion)
Rose Without a Thorn (1993)

Children's novels
Meg Roper, daughter of Sir Thomas More (1961)
The Young Elizabeth (1961)
The Young Mary Queen of Scots (1962)

The Spanish Inquisition Series (non-fiction)
The Rise of the Spanish Inquisition (1959)
The Growth of the Spanish Inquisition (1960)
The End of the Spanish Inquisition (1961)

Historical non-fiction
A Triptych of Poisoners (1958)
Mary Queen of Scots: The Fair Devil of Scotland (1975)

1 comment:

  1. Great blog on historical fiction. Why no more recent posts?

    ReplyDelete